


Let Your Light Shine In

by RemRain



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Aged-Up Hiro, Basically the movie universe but with wings, Clumsy Hiro, Glutton for punishment Tadashi, Goofball Hiro, Hiro is his own worst enemy, I'm so sorry it sounds like the start of a cheap romance novel, M/M, Mother Hen Tadashi, Patient Tadashi, Socially Awkward Hiro, What is a summary, Wingfic, Wings!AU, not related AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-19 03:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3593913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RemRain/pseuds/RemRain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Born with black wings, Hiro spent most of his life shoved down, bullied and ostracized by his own family. He was ready to leave that life behind and take SFIT by storm. However with little to no social skills to speak of and an a totally hot glutton for punishment following him around, Hiro's in for one wild ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero 6 or any of the characters within. I just like to borrow them . The title is inspired by Collective Soul's song Shine.

Hiro had the unfortunate luck to be born into a highly traditional family with a deep dark legend. The kind of deep dark legend they called a “curse”. He called it bull shit. It involved the usual ancestor fucking up and screwing the rest of the family for all of eternity and death and bad luck would follow those with black wings forever and yada, yada, yada. Hiro’s grandfather used it as a way to control the family and keep their values in line with his. No matter how many times Hiro tried to point out that genetics were just a bitch and any family disasters that occurred whenever a Hamada was born with black wings were pure coincidence, no one listened. Let’s be honest, that shouldn’t be the family's biggest concern anyway. What with all the inbreeding that kept happening to keep the power and money in the family name, they were lucky recessive wing colors were their only problem.

 

Despite having logic and science on his side, Hiro fought a losing battle growing up. He spent most of his life shoved down, bullied and ostracized by most people he dealt with at school and at home. His wings were truly a curse in the fact they kept him separate from everyone else. Hiro learned to keep them tucked in close to his body to minimize contact and his mouth shut so he didn’t draw any unneeded attention. It was just easier that way and by the time he graduated with his second degree Hiro was on the deep end of the socially awkward pool.

 

Hiro hungered for a taste of the world outside his family's influence. Cutting his ties with them was easy. He wasn’t really surprised by that little fact, he’d been left to his own devices for years by then. They even paid for his plane ticket, tuition for SFIT and even dropped him off at the airport with a family car. Hiro could really feel the love, it left warm fuzzies all over… not.

Holy shit the world was far bigger than he’d ever thought possible. For the first time Hiro questioned his motives and whether he would be able to survive in such a place. Well he had been a child prodigy and resident genius so he could figure things out. As long as he had a working microwave and a freezer of course. Feeding himself was going to be the hardest part of this adventure. The mini freak out he’d had on the plane, turned into a half hour hunched over a toilet in the mens room puking up his guts once they’d landed. Not a great start but he was on solid ground and for once people were ignoring the wings on his back. Now that was quite a shock. Not one person gave him the stink eye and Hiro was pretty sure he saw a few other people with black wings. Ha! Take that family “curse”. Science wins again!

 

Hiro might have had two degrees firmly under his belt, but it quickly became apparent he wasn’t prepared for the big city. Now age nineteen Hiro quickly learned private schools and dark, locked rooms on the families forested estate paled in comparison to just how colorful and vibrant San Fransokyo was. There was noise and signs everywhere. From the flashing sushi advertisements, to the bright blimps and gigantic skyscrapers, it was almost enough to induce a dramatic swoon. Along with all the sights and sounds, came the people. There were so many! It was a giant sea of people milling about their daily lives and the onslaught never stopped. Hiro probably looked like some sort of acrobat as he twisted and jumped around trying to avoid bumping into anyone. He quickly learned it was just easier to hide in the safety of his own dorm room. It had half the color and lacked the loud shouting of the city.

 

Hiro hated strangers. Well hate was such a strong word... He had strong opinions about people he didn’t know and their apparent lack of intelligence. Sure he constantly worried about judgemental glances and kept his wings firmly tucked into his own personal space but beyond that he was surprised how many were just fucking stupid. SFIT had acceptance standards right? How on earth had some of these people gotten in? On particularly boring afternoons Hiro had taken to watching these people for his own amusement. If it wasn’t laughing at nerds trying to throw a frisbee with any accuracy, it was sitting in the library's comfy chairs trying not to laugh at their ridiculous theories.

 

On one particular afternoon Hiro had decided to escape the confines of his dorm room and attempt to get some vitamin D. His advisor had called him a ghost during their last meeting. He was pretty sure his dark hoodies washed out his skin but it couldn’t hurt to go outside right? One hand was shoved into the recesses of his hoodie and the other was popping the colorful gifts from heaven, also known as gummi bears, into his mouth. As usual his wings were tucked up tight to his body, the tips a scant few inches from dragging on the ground. While puberty had given him some height, he still hadn’t grown into his wings. They were nice to cuddle into on cooler nights but a bitch in just about everything else. Mainly because he couldn’t fly... In a straight line anyway. One gust of wind and he was a kite floating off to wherever it took him. It more than wounded his manly pride.

 

“Awwww.” Mourning the now empty bag of gummi bears, Hiro struck off for the nearest vending machine. They were the only reason he braved being in public anymore.Why couldn’t he live closer to a student lounge? Hiro kept his head down and eyes on anything but the people passing by. The sun was out and the early spring chill had faded for the moment. The flowering trees were kind of pretty, as long as you didn’t have allergies of course. It was nice enough that it irritated Hiro a little bit. He used to love spring and he didn’t really want to know what he was missing now that he locked himself in his lab. As far as he was concerned it was still winter and the sun wasn’t daring to mock his introverted life style. He was firmly in denial that his lab projects had sapped that much of his time.

 

So focused on not noticing anything at all, Hiro was sent to the ground in a sudden slow motion disaster. One wing helped cushion his fall while the other was awkwardly pinned behind him by the weight on his back. Startled he tried to wiggle free and see just what had knocked him over. The what turned into a who as he caught sight of a pair of legs and one waving arm. Tubby, whoever they were, was not moving fast enough for Hiro’s tastes. He was melodramatically suffocating here, and his desperate wiggling was doing little to actually help.

 

As suddenly as it appeared, the weight shifted and then disappeared. Hiro took a dramatic gasp of air and wiggled his wing tips to make sure they were still in working order. The wing under him tingled with pins and needles when he pulled it free. Ahhh that was certainly unpleasant.

 

“I’m so, so sorry. Here let me help.” Hiro’s gaze followed the proffered hand up to the arm and finally the worried face of the man who’d nearly flattened him. Tubby wasn’t all that tubby actually. It was like looking at a model for those stay fit magazines that randomly showed up in his P.O. Box. Hot damn, it just wasn’t fair. With a large nose, smooth cheeks and wide brown eyes, the stranger looked friendly enough Hiro supposed. He was probably some sort of do gooder Hiro had no business getting to know. It would just make thing insanely complicated  and he didn’t need someone hanging over his shoulder with fake concern. Medium sized brown wings were held loosely behind the man. At first glance it was easy to write them off as just your average looking chocolate brown wings, but once you got up close there were flecks of red and a slight gradient from lighter to darker toward the tips. They were kind of handsome, then again Hiro thought that about everyone else’s wings. He bet this guy didn’t have to deal with being ostracized from his family.

 

“Hey did you hit your head? Shit I’m really sorry, here let me take a look.”

 

Hiro was not prepared to have a strangers face so close to his own. Oh my and those hands were way too close to his forehead and no touchy touchy please. Belatedly he realized he hadn’t moved much from his previous position and scrambled backward. His wings came up in front of him like a makeshift shield, fingers curling into the feathers for comfort. Hiro wasn’t exactly sure what to do in a situation like this. The stranger looked even more concerned now (that cute little crease in between his eyebrows just wasn’t fair) and his friends were closing in with concerned shouts of their own. “Ah no, no I’m fine. No damage done, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. All my fault! Bye!” And on that note, Hiro beat a hasty and some what clumsy retreat into the nearest hallway.

  
The hood was quickly pulled over his face to cover flushed cheeks and he had to seriously concentrate to get his wings back into their flat position on his back. Any time he got excited, they got a mind of their own and he would prefer not to punch anyone in the face again thank you very much. The whole scene had left Hiro rattled and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He didn’t talk to people, let alone handsome strangers and their scary looking friends. At the same time he was angry at himself for not being able to speak to them properly and more than a little anxious that he’d had to talk to anyone in general. Hiro decided many, many bags of gummy bears were needed. A whole fucking truckload even. Comfort food made everything better. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own BH6 or the characters within! Any mistakes are my own as this is unbeta'd. Though I wouldn't mind a beta if anyone would like to volunteer? ;)

Two weeks later and Hiro had more important things to worry about than some overly handsome stranger and his own social failings. Mid terms were fast approaching and no matter how hard he worked the ideas refused to flow. He was a genius! The best that ever was! The ideas were supposed to flow like water from his brain to his pen. Maybe the pen was finally out of ink? The urge to bang his head against his desk to get things moving was almost too much to resist. Hiro doubted a headache would actually help in the long run though.

Balls of paper were scattered all over his work space. A few had escaped the confines of his desk to roll under his chair and the rest were sprinkled around an overflowing waste basket. A slew of discarded empty energy drink cans were precariously balanced on top. The hoard of sugary sweet goodness Hiro kept on the shelves behind him were nearly bare. All he had left was that one nasty brand of gummy bears that tasted like plastic and one or two bags of chips. The mini fridge was completely empty now that he’d consumed it’s entire content of energy drinks. It was dire times on Hiro’s lab.

His foot tapped an uneven tempo against the chair leg as he stared at the unfinished prototype on the page. Hiro doodled another random angry face in the corner before giving up. He wasn’t going to get anywhere like this. What he needed was a distraction, well what he really needed was some sleep and a decent meal but that wasn’t happening. To bad the only distractions on campus that didn’t involve a crowded lounge filled with procrastinators were the grounds themselves. Maybe if he went outside and stared at the koi pond and thought about fluid dynamics long enough it would help? Or… maybe there were some nerds around jousting with broom sticks again. The great and mighty Hiro needed his pawns to entertain his mighty brain.

Did he mention he had been up for thirty two hours straight and was dangerously close to that level of sleep deprivation that made everything funny? Mad giggles and everything. He felt like simultaneously dancing to the latest pop craze and crying over the mess in his lab. Not even five minutes ago Hiro had been ready to tear his lab apart out of sheer frustration. Should he be worried by the sudden mood swings? Was this the first step into the bowels of insanity? Oh no, what if he turned into one of those kooky old men who stood on street corners and ranted about aliens and invasions? No, no, he was a super genius and super geniuses didn’t go insane. 

Placated for the moment, Hiro started whistling some mindless toon and skipped out of his lab. Wasn’t lack of sleep just glorious? Everything was kind of muddled and muted, but he felt fine. Great even! At least until he left the safety of the robotics building and stepped into the light.

“Agh… The sun. It burns.” The quip was accompanied by a mad giggle as Hiro skipped down the front steps. Hiro lifted a wing to shield his eyes from the worst of the glare and slightly spread the other to soak up some of the warmth. It was a pleasant glow that spread across his back. There was a prickling feeling slowly growing at the nape of his neck. Something felt off… it could just be the caffeine talking but it was strangely quiet. That too quiet that always happened in those scary movies right before a crazed murderer found the heroine and tore her limb from limb. It made Hiro a tad uncomfortable and his skipping picked up in speed. He didn’t want to be turned inside out or… whatever gruesome thing might happen next. 

No one was out jousting so off to the koi pond it was! As quick as his skipping legs could take him. Hopefully he could make it there before something attacked him.

“Hey.”

Hiro made a rather undignified scream as a hand came down on his shoulder. The wing shielding his eyes shot backward and nailed whatever had tried to attack him square in the face. He jumped backward and pathetically shielded his face with his skinny little arms. 

A thud followed by the sound of choked laughter certainly wasn’t what Hiro expected. Slowly prying an eye open he couldn’t help but stare at the person smothering their laughter. Of course. Of course. It was the guy from before, the one who’d nearly turned him into a Hiro pancake. Who else would be such a glutton for punishment? They should know was dangerous to walk up and surprise people this close to mid terms! Everyone was barely holding it together with energy drinks and cat naps.

“Oh, it’s you.” Hiro tamped down the urge to stomp his foot like a toddler to hide his embarrassment. The stairs were still an option for a strategic retreat. Only... he was pretty sure suddenly running up them would only end up in another embarrassing face plant into the concrete. Adding adrenaline to caffeine jitters and sudden movement was a recipe for disaster. Slowly edging away was a solid plan, one Hiro put into effect immediately.

“Stop it right there.” The stranger sounded like he was trying not to laugh but was failing spectacularly. Hiro wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not. “Yes it’s me. We have some unfinished business.”

Like that could sound any more ominous. Hiro did as he was told, though he probably looked more like a frightened kitten than a competent adult. At least his wings were behaving themselves again and not hitting people in their criminally attractive faces and... was that blood? Oh sweet deities in the sky that was blood. “You’re bleeding!” He pointed at the red liquid dripping from the strangers nose. Okay so he did feel more than a mere twinge of guilt over actually injuring the guy but that didn’t mean he knew how to fix... whatever this was. Hiro only had two known responses and that was running away or awkwardly hovering and flailing his hands around until things resolved themselves. As mentioned before running was liable to make things worse and not better, so awkward hand waving anyone?

The stranger was looking less amused and a bit concerned and wasn’t that becoming a familiar sight. He pulled his hand away to say something and the cascade of blood increased. Hiro was definitely concerned with the red stuff dripping onto the guys cardigan. How on earth did noses manage to bleed that much?

“Don’t do that! You’re going to get it everywhere! We need like a first aid kit or something. Ice? Ice helps right?” Hiro glanced down for a moment like idiot man would be able to answer him. He was a genius and he had to have some sort of obscure medical knowledge tucked away. Uh well… he barely remembered to eat and sleep so that was a no go on first aid. Maybe if it was soaked up? That worked on spills in the lab “Okay, okay just stay there and don’t do anything else stupid and I’ll pay for the cardigan I promise, just sit tight and we’ll have this fixed in a jiffy.”

A quick search of his pockets revealed Hiro didn’t have anything useful except the clothes on his back. The hoodie was a nono since it was kind of his favorite and it deserved a better ending than this. His shirt on the other hand… The next few seconds were filled with a flurry of feathers as Hiro shrugged and flailed out of his hoodie.

“Uh… what are you doing?” Strange guy sounded confused.

Hiro thought his plan was rather obvious. “The bleeding needs to be stopped and it’s getting all over you so…”

He had his shirt half off when a hand grabbed a hold of his wrist. It was warm and calloused and if Hiro wasn’t borderline freaking before he was now because someone was touching him and it wasn’t to shove him into a locker and it felt kind of nice but it was still touching and did he always breath this fast?

“Hey, hey calm down. No permanent damage done I promise.” Idiot man was staring down at him with a mix of amusement and concern. The hand on his wrist dropped and moved to pull his shirt back down.

“Uh yeah… okay but you’re still bleeding and by the laws of first aid you have to put ice on it or something right?” Hiro eyed the spot on his shirt where the other man had touched it. That wasn’t some sort of a greeting was it? He was pretty sure it wasn’t but what did he know at this point?

“Close enough. C’mon if you’re that worried we can get some ice.” The stranger chuckled.

Idiot man’s laugh was kind of nice actually, warm with that rough edge to it that probably meant he talked way too much. And now Hiro was just following strangers to random places, against his better judgement he would like to add. Not that the hand on his wrist gave him much choice in the matter. He stumbled along behind, shorter legs and lack of sleep making it hard to keep up either physically or mentally. Things had taken a one eighty and he was scrambling to put it all together.

Their destination turned out to be the nearest lounge in the robotics lab. He found it funny that whenever he tried to escape he always ended up back in that particular building. Other that the initial tour he’d never been to any of the other buildings. Hiro didn’t even know what sorts of classes they housed.

If the constant stream of words escaping his mouth were to be believed, the lounge was close to this guys lab? Then they weren’t too far apart and wasn’t that a scary thought. Hiro could already tell that this guy would be barging into his lab at odd hours to make sure he was eating and/or sleeping regularly and interrupting valuable breakthroughs. The lounge was occupied, not that it stopped the stranger. Hiro tried to shrink and turn invisible as he felt everyone’s eyes turn to him. It hadn’t worked the last time he’d tried and it didn’t work now, much to his disappointment. Maybe instead of building mind boggling robots he should work on an invisibility spray. He quickly made a mental note to look into that.

“Hey Tadashi, who’d you manage to piss of this time?” A short, young woman with dark hair and a purple streak in it, spoke up. She gave Hiro a thorough once over as she chewed on her gum lazily. 

“It was just an accident Gogo.” The man chuckled and let go of Hiro’s wrist. He could escape, huzzah!

“Mhm. I thought we told you to stop bringing stray puppies in with you.” This time her words were punctuated with a loud pop of her gum. 

Hiro paused mid escape plan and scowled. Hey he was not some stray puppy. He wasn’t a puppy at all; what part of him even remotely resembled a puppy? Hiro gave himself a quick once over. Well without the hoodie he was kind of thin and he hadn’t showered in a few days so his hair was kind of shaggy… but! He still lacked the wet nose and obviously floppy ears of the canine variety so there. That discussion in his head over, Hiro turned his attention to the rest of the conversation.

“I didn’t think you’d be here on a Saturday Tadashi. Aren’t you usually at the cafe helping your aunt?” A tall burly looking man glanced up from what appeared to be a sudoku book.

Sudoku? So close to the deadline shouldn’t all these people be busy or at least busier? They didn’t have that frantic look in their eyes that meant they were valiantly trying to distract themselves and put things off until the last possible moment. It didn’t make sense. Hiro frowned and thought about it some more. The guy had said Saturday but that couldn’t be right. It was Thursday and he should still have two more days to finish his project. He fished in his pocket for his cell phone. Only it was back at the lab… turned off… because the battery was dead.

“Shit.” Hiro muttered. If it was really Saturday, then he’d some how lost two days and today was the day his project was due. Sometimes he did get in the zone and lose track of time but he hadn’t been in the zone because he was stuck on one particular part so he should remember two whole days. Unless those had been lost in the haze of programming and energy drinks.

Tadashi paused washing the blood off his face. Concern was growing the more agitated Hiro looked. The genius didn’t have time to address it now or follow through on his promise to pay for the man’s cardigan. His project was due in mere hours and it wasn’t even close to being finished.

“Hey are you-”

“Shit! Shitshitshitshit!” Hiro bolted from the room, leaving a trail of curse words behind him. He was late! He needed to finish! Why had he thought a walk was a good idea? It was bad, so very bad. Nothing ever good happened when he went outside!

“You sure know how to pick ‘em Tadashi.”

“... Shut up.”

Thankfully Hiro was too preoccupied to catch the tail end of the conversation as he fled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Hopefully it amuses you all as much as it did me. Thank you for all the wonderful comments and kudos!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back again! Well I'll be around a lot I think. You should see the list of ideas I have for this fandom. It's crazy long. Now this fic was inspired by the winged Hiro and Tadashi art over on sorarts and non-fatmilk's tumblrs. I highly recommend heading over there to check it out if you haven't already!  
> I'm especially having fun writing this one and there's plenty of fun times ahead. I almost want to do daily updates for this fic. Unfortunately RL doesn't allow for it but I'm hoping to update twice a week!
> 
> As for how this universe works. Just imagine the movie but everyone has wings. Bam there you go and not to complicated. Public parks are a bit bigger so people can stretch their wings and fly and I suppose there are flying lanes instead of bike lanes or something like that. Planes can still fly faster and father than people so they're still around. Cars and the like as well. Who wants to fly two straight hours to get to a family when they can sit in the comfort of their own car? I'm hoping to flesh this world out as we move along and keep you guys hooked!


End file.
